This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Sometimes it is important to know where sound comes from, in all possible situations. For example, when listening to music on a mobile device with a headset, it would still be useful to know the directions of sounds in the physical environment. In this situation, for instance, it would be useful to know the direction of a person talking behind the headset user or of a car driving closer to the headset user. Also, for people with impaired hearing, this information would be beneficial.
In mobile devices, there is never enough display space for showing different items, such as direction relative to the mobile device of a sound. Furthermore, a user may not appreciate or understand a pop up or other graphic presenting the direction but covering icons and other user interface elements displayed on the display of the mobile device. Consequently, it would be beneficial to direction information of sound using the display space provided by a mobile device.